Vermont Moves To Put Noise Rule On Wind Industry

Vermont regulators filed a rule Tuesday limiting how loud wind turbines can be when they generate power, angering the wind industry and green energy advocates.

The Vermont Public Service Board proposed a 42-decibel sound limit for wind turbines operating during the day, which would drop to 39 decibels at night. The rule would lower the state’s current 45-decibels per hour limit, which is quieter than a normal conversation, and would also require large wind turbine projects to keep a distance of ten times their heights from nearby homes.

The wind industry is fighting the rule, claiming it effectively blocks the construction of new wind turbines in the state.

“This rule will make most, if not all, large wind projects unworkable in Vermont, taking this critical clean-energy resource off the table,” the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, a lobbying group that supports the wind industry, told the Associated Press.

If the rule is approved, wind energy supporters claim that Vermont won’t meet its goal of getting 90 percent of its electricity from green sources by 2050.

Local environmentalists support the proposed regulation, with some arguing that the rule doesn’t go far enough.

“It could have been a lot better to be truly protective, but it is a great improvement over what has been in place for the operating big wind projects,” Annette Smith, founder of the environmental group Vermonters for a Clean Environment, told the AP. The board considered a noise limit of 35 decibels but decided it was too restrictive.

The rule marks a sharp reversal in the state’s attitude towards the wind industry.

Dr. Harry Chen, the former Vermont health commissioner, told lawmakers in 2016 that “no scientific research has been able to demonstrate a direct cause-and-effect link between living near wind turbines, the noise they emit, and physiological health effects.”